Effervescent April - Part 2

Jefferson turned 10 on April 20th.  Since April 20th fell on an Easter Sunday, we decided we would use the whole week prior to his birthday to celebrate this great guy of mine.  First, we had our close and dear friends, the Wiederholds, come and stay with us for a couple of days.  The kids swam all day at the hotel's swimming pool, shared gifts, told secrets, did push-ups (even while in the water) so they could have a six pack :), and watched movies till late at night.  It was a good get together.

On the Thursday of his birthday week, Jefferson was awarded for excellence in math, and California State Testing.

That Friday, I treated my older kids with front row tickets to the Broadway Musical Les Miserable.  The production was flawless; Gillian loved the singers; Jefferson had a lot of questions about the French Revolution; and I savored every minute of the music, stage, and my kids' intelligent questions and comments.  Beautiful evening!

On Saturday, we celebrated Jefferson's birthday with a delicious homemade breakfast, awesome gifts, fun shooting practice (Jefferson got a BB Gun as a gift from his dad), and a whole afternoon at the Adventure Playground in Berkeley, where the kids spent hours hammering, painting, sawing, gluing, creating, climbing, and playing with each other.  I would think this was a great way to celebrate a birthday!

 

On Easter Sunday, we were privileged to attend Stake Conference at a building nearby the temple.  What a beautiful thing to remember Jesus Christ, His life, atonement, and His resurrection with words expressed by His chosen leaders, and so close to His house.  It was so beautiful to be reminded of our Saviour's love for us and His selfless sacrifice, to meet with Saints who love the Lord and show it in word and action, and to stand next to the temple and be grateful for the opportunity that Christ gave us through His atonement to repent and progress toward an eternal life with our eternal family!

Here are my two friends who already knew what I was going through with this pregnancy.  They each gave birth this month to beautiful sons.  I'm four months pregnant in this picture, five more to go.

When we got home, we ate lunch and sang to Jefferson.  Elijah had made this cake the night before, - yellow cake with chocolate frosting - as always the cake was delicious, and Jefferson loved it. 

 

 

For Easter dinner, we had invited over our friends, the Bowens,to share our meal, an egg hunt for the kids, and a spiritual message about the Saviour's life and love for us.  The message was included in the egg hunt.  There were 12 eggs labeled each with a number, and filled with an item that represented Christ's last days on earth, accompanied by a scripture.  Number 12 was an empty egg, and wow, it always brings tears to my eyes when we open it and feel of the Spirit overflowing into our hearts testifying that Jesus was truly resurrected.  The tomb was empty, but our our hearts were full with His love.  I hope you too had a great Easter!

 

 

 

 

 

That week should have been enough for any normal person to feel exhausted, let alone for an unwell pregnant woman.  However, April wasn't over, and what was even harder Spring Break followed Easter week.  I had planned so many fun activities for the kids, but I tried to find a balance between letting me rest and giving them opportunities to have fun on their own.  Most of the week, the kids stayed home playing on the trampoline, getting cool with the sprinklers, and acting out plays that Gillian had written, while I laid down.  Some of the time when I felt okay, I took them places.  We ate out a lot, had fun at the Zoo, attended piano lessons (with Charlton thinking he was big to be in his brothers' lesson), had the kids cook dinner, and the coolest activity of all dropping Gillian off for a fun horse riding camp.  She absolutely loved riding horses, and was very good at it in the end galloping without a saddle.  This was the perfect activity for Gillian; just her and the animal, no girl drama, no pressure, no need for words.  Cant' wait to have her back on the saddle again!

 

The last week of April was filled with my kids' school activities.  James asked if I could chaperone in his field trip to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, where they learned about the different kinds of species that live in this area, some extinct animals, learned about their habitat, and adopted an owl.  They were very excited and proud to adopt the beautiful snowy owl, and sponsor for its care.

The last activity that ended April with a flair, was the Night of the Notables, where each student from Jefferson and James's class presented an oral report on the distinguished man or woman of their choice. Jefferson had chosen to present Jesse James, and boy, did he play the part well, too well for my liking I should say.  James had chosen to study on and present Thomas Jefferson; he did an amazing job in his delivery of this great American hero, and doesn't he look adorable with that red hair?!  The boys had made a pact to chose someone with each other's names.  I thought that was adorable.  Brotherly love!  The funnest part of the night was not only that my boys shined up on the stage, but that they got to have their parents win (Elijah 1st place and I 2nd) in the parent portion of asking questions to the kids and finding out who they were.  I think my boys thought it awesome that their parents were the winners.  It made them proud, just like they made us proud.  What a fun night!  What a fun month!